No let up in pain for would be home buyers

Housing was a big issue in the recent general election. The fourth quarter property report from MyHome.ie, a property website owned by The Irish Times, illustrates why this was the case.

House prices rose on average by 8.4 per cent year on year, which is bad enough, but tight supply (just 11,500 units were listed for sale on MyHome in December) resulted in hot competition, In November, the final sum agreed for a median property in Dublin was 8.6 per cent above the asking price. One in seven homes is settling for a minimum of 20 per cent over the asking price, according to the report, authored by Bank of Ireland chief economist Conall MacCoille.

First-time buyers are now having to spend 28 per cent of their post-tax disposable income on their monthly mortgage payments with their loan-to-income ratio stretching out to 3.37 times versus 3.25 in 2023 thanks to a loosening of the Central Bank of Ireland’s mortgage lending rules.

First-time buyers are also getting older — on average they are 36 years of age now buying their first property, compared with 34 in the UK. All bleak statistics if you’re hoping to get a foot on the property ladder.

MacCoille’s report does at least offer some crumbs of comfort for aspiring buyers. He is forecasting a softening in price growth this year, averaging at 4 per cent. European Central Bank rates are falling and if supply is truly the only solution to the stressed housing market here, MacCoille is at least forecasting a substantial rise in completions to 42,000 this year from 33,000 in 2023, and then to 46,000 in 2026.

Only time will tell if the increase in supply helps to cool the market.

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World of Work

Young people are rejecting work. Why?

“I’m considering living in the wild, just trotting around the globe with little money,” reads a post on a Reddit forum for Neets. “I was working [in] a retail store and the first few hours were OK, then I had to deal with customers,” reads another. “I packed my bag and just left.”

In this forum, a community of 44,000 people from around the world share advice and discuss the challenges of being a Neet – an acronym for not in education, employment or training.

It is not just an online phenomenon. “I could never go back to working a normal job again,” Morgan, who left his role in 2020 and asked to remain anonymous, told the FT. “With inflation and rents rising, the incentive to devote all of my time to an employer to barely scrape by didn’t make sense any more.”

In the third quarter of this year, official UK figures showed 13 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds were Neets, nearly one million people. Two-fifths of these were looking for work; the rest were “economically inactive”, neither working nor looking, opting out of the labour market completely.

Click to read the full article

In Other News

Garda file sent to DPP 14 years after Moriarty tribunal findings

The Garda has completed its long-running criminal investigation into the findings of the Moriarty tribunal, the payments to politicians inquiry, and has now sent its file on the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), The Irish Times has learned.

The file was sent to the DPP in recent weeks, almost 14 years after the tribunal’s findings were first referred to the Garda for review which led to a criminal investigation. The DPP’s office is expected to take some time to consider all evidence gathered by detectives before deciding whether any individual investigated has a criminal case to answer.

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1. Fresh orange warning issued for low temperatures and ice from Thursday evening
2. Man (50s) arrested at Dublin’s Connolly station after carrying shotgun on train
3. Press Up’s Kaldero: A dining experience that feels more like being fed by an accountant than a chef
4. ‘Forgotten’ Kerry village still without water and electricity
5. Orange warning in effect with more sub-zero temperatures expected on Thursday night

Inside Business podcast

Figures for 2024 showed a 1 per cent decline in total car sales across the Irish market versus 2023. But the number of electric vehicles sold reduced by almost 24 per cent with just 17,459 registered. Neil Briscoe joined Inside Business host Ciarán Hancock to go through some of the affordable options for those looking to buy, and explain why sales of EVs went into reverse last year.

Highlights this week

• World of work: The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 was meant to fulfil the promise by the Government parties to enshrine the right to remote and hybrid working in law. In practice, writes John McManus, it has proved a hollow promise, as subsequent Workplace Relations Commission cases have shown.
• Personal Finance: Pitched as a giveaway pre-election budget, many of the benefits were one-off bumps. Changes on the personal tax front were a lot more muted than they might have been but there are still measures that will boost your pay packet this year, writes Fiona Reddan.
• Technology: Last year, Ciara O'Brien decided to go inbox zero - diligently reading and deleting email, keeping that red notification bubble at bay, and generally feeling a bit smug. It lasted, until it didn’t. But as it is January, she has started all over again as part of a “new year, slightly new me” kick. And she has a few more tech resolutions you might also consider.

One to Watch

Enterprise Ireland, the agency supporting indigenous business in their efforts to expand into international markets, publishes its end-year report on Wednesday, a final hurrah for departing chief executive, Leo Clancy.

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